back from the window, can’t convincethe dog into the bathtub, can’t count4/4 well enough to lay a needle on red

dirt records without shaking like the night we met. You asked me to hold your pitcher,I did. I asked you to stay till morning.

You did. Come back out of the wind,I want to hear the unchained shower melody you sang me awake with

the next morning. Put the track onrepeat, hide in the darkest room, in the darkest corner, dig my teeth

into my knees, till the storm ends.

_____________________

John Andrews’ first book, Colin is Changing His Name, is forthcoming from Sibling Rivalry Press in Fall 2017 and was a finalist for the 2015 Moon City Poetry Prize. Other work has previously appeared in Redivider, Assaracus, Burnt District, Pembroke Magazine, and others. Currently, he is a Ph.D. candidate in English at Oklahoma State University where he serves as an Associate Editor for the Cimarron Review.